Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has released the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results.
In an event held at Moi Girls in Eldoret, the CS ended the wait and anticipation of the results that were initially slated for release in December 2023.
899,450 candidates sat the exams across the country in the period between November 3 and November 24.
Of the 899,453 candidates who sat the 2023 KCSE Examination, 450,554 were male, while 448,899 were female, representing 50.09% and 49.91% of the total candidature respectively, according to CS Machogu.
The number of candidates who attained the minimum university entry qualification (Grade C+ and above) was 201,133 (22.27%) in the 2023 KCSE Examination compared to 173,345 (19.62%) in the year 2022.
This, CS Machogu noted, was as a result of the application of new grading system.
In a bid to curb cases of cheating, the Ministry introduced the double collection policy where the examiners were required to pick one paper at time from the distribution centers.
This was a departure from the previous system where examiners picked two papers at a go from the distribution centers.
According to KNEC, this system created room for exposure of the second session papers and hence compromising on the exam’s credibility.
New KCSE grading system
The 2023 exam also saw the national exam council debut a new grading system which included one language and mathematics as the mandatory subjects to be used in the computation of the final grade.
In addition to the two subjects, KNEC would use any other five best-performed subjects by the candidate to derive the mean grade.
In his speech, Machogu reiterated that the new grading system helped to ensure that more students transit to the university and other tertiary institutions to pursue their courses of choice.
“Under the new KCSE grading system, the overall grade at KCSE Examination has considered Mathematics, the best performed language subject among English/Kiswahili/Kenyan Sign Language and the best performed five subjects,” Machogu announced.
Also Read: How to Check 2023 KCSE Results
Nonetheless, some 8,174 (5.33%) still ended up scoring a mean grade of E in the 2023 KCSE Examination even after the new system of computing the final overall candidate results.
KNEC on preexposure of KCSE papers
Speaking during the release, Kenya National Examination Council CEO David Njegere assured that no case of pre-exposure of exam papers was reported during the administration stage.
On his part, Chairman Julius Nyabundi asked candidates with concerns about their results to take advantage of the 30-days window provided in the law to channel their concerns.
In addition, the CEO noted that 2023’s exam marking process ran smoothly without cases of examiners striking as had been the case in previous years.
Also Read: Details of Machogu’s s New KCSE Grading System
Prior to the release, Machogu briefed President William Ruto at the Eldoret State Lodge on the results and performance of candidates in the national exams.
In response to the report tabled by the CS, Ruto ordered the Ministry of Education to investigate why some 3,000 students failed to sit the exams despite having registered for the 2023 exams.
